Three post in three days, told you i'm making more of an effort! Today i'm talking about Witch Cult, and for those that might not be familiar with them, they were a Powerviolence band from the South Coast of England. They were known for playing guerrilla type gigs, often in balaclavas, disastrously short sets and they're now sadly missed. A great band. Of all their recorded output, this is the one that got the most hype around it, probably due to it being very good. And more readily available than some releases by them.
Holy Roar Records put this out on Halloween 2011. Holy Roar are a fantastic UK label, part of the Pink Mist Collective. They put out mostly hardcore stuff, but occasionally dip into math rock and other genres. A great independent label that put massive amounts of effort and attention to their releases. This was released on black vinyl only on a single press of 300. The cover art is a really odd, almost pixelated photo of two band members (I assume) in balaclavas, with a white inverted cross in the bottom right corner. The font for the band name on the centre label of the vinyl also has an inverted cross. Very goth. Also, everything on this release is black and white, not a dash of colour to be seen.
The back cover is a neat quarter fold with the track-listing and label logo. At first it struck me as odd that the record didn't come in a dust sleeve, but it's all good. From an aesthetic sense this looks much better, and hasn't damaged the record in any way. Works to probably run a microfibre cloth round it first though before sticking it on your turntable.
Oh yes. This record is also single sided (it's powerviolence mate, it's certainly no longer than 10 or 12 minutes), so the b-side has this really nice etching. The etching is of the Holy Roar logo, with a bit of a twist. The witch hat and broom have been added, I guess the whole Halloween/ Witch Cult thing really ties in here. I really love the little additions in this release. It's appreciated that they made the most of the extra space, and I'd rather have this etching over shirking down the format to a 7''. Where's the fun in that?
As another fun little addition, the record came with a free copy of the album on CD. It kind of looks like a promo job; plastic wallet, card sleeve etc. I like it though, as they've taken the time to make a scaled down version of the artwork for the LP. Probably a 2 minute job I know, but most major(?) label vinyl releases that include a CD have this sketchy plain card wallet with no track-listing or art (Epitaph i'm looking at you). Also, it's way cooler than some download card that you spend ages looking for, just for it to be invalidated on Bandcamp.
And here is the back cover, just so you know what it looks like I guess?
Around a year ago, Witch Cult played their last show, and until then I think copies of this were still fairly easy to find (the label long ran out, but Amazon/ eBay had copies floating from time to time). However, it's not really in ready supply anymore; but have a listen here if you're so inclined (http://witchcultpv.bandcamp.com/album/s-t) and if it takes you're fancy, have a little hunt for it. I hope seeing how cool this release is aesthetically will entice you just that little bit more.
I miss Witch Cult.
No comments:
Post a Comment